Another Reunion
by AmandaFaye
Summary: Realizing that New Earth will need help getting the hospital system fixed, the Doctor asks an old friend for help.


**Author's Note: I do not own any of the characters. The BBC does. Takes place immediately after School Reunion and after Asylum. **

**  
"So, where're we off to, now?" Mickey asked as he leaned against the TARDIS wall. "That place you were talkin' 'bout? Woman Wept? Or - Barcelona? Or- "**

**"Thirty-third century England is the plan, actually," the Doctor stated matter-of-factly, spinning dials on the navigational center. **

**"England? But- we just left England," Mickey groused. He wanted to see aliens and weird places, or at least the more exotic eras in the past on Earth, if worst came to worst.**

**Even though she hadn't been thrilled about having her ex join the team, Rose had to agree. "Why do we keep going back to Earth?" **

**"Because - because - I like it," the Doctor groped for a reason, mussing his hair into wildness with one hand. "And, I've been thinking about what Queen Victoria said, frankly. I'm not saying she was right, because, after all, she is a werewolf, or could be one, but, she might have had a slight, miniscule point." Holding up two fingers, slightly apart, the Time Lord demonstrated how minor a point. "Not much of one, but still. A point's a point."**

**"About- what?" Rose asked. "Not being amused? You know, if we're gonna pay attention to what she said, every time we land in England, we're breaking the law."**

**"And so I was before I even knew it because my past selves landed there a lot. I wonder why no one arrested me for being there when I was exiled to England," the Doctor frowned. **

**"You got exiled TO England? When?" Mickey asked, clearly enjoying the idea of the great one being in trouble.**

**"Oh- depends on how you count. It was my second self, but I got promptly turned into my third self, so either eight or seven lives ago. I was stuck in the sixties and early seventies. Very dark time for me.Of all the times and places to stick a fellow! For what? Nothing. Interfering. That's - nothing. It was always helpful interfering, in the long run, at least." The Doctor studied the Tardis ceiling as he answered, then looked down again, shrugging. "Huge mix-up. Obviously, the Time Lords realized their mistake and freed me. AFTER I saved them. But, let's not talk about that. Where was I? Oh, right. Queen Victoria, past companions, and consequences."**

**"Past companions? Consequences?" Rose shook her head. Sometimes, THIS Doctor was hard to follow. **

**"I didn't mention that? Oops. Sorry. Meant to, but got off on Mickey boy's rabbit trail and - Well, right then. You remember our little adventure to New Earth and New New New New York?" Rose nodded. Like how could she forget having that freaky woman borrow her body? He clapped his hands together decisively. "Well, one of the _consequences_ of THAT was the hospital system was basically- "**

**"Put in jail?" Rose suggested. **

**"You could say that. The colonists have no idea HOW to handle the health care system, and while what we did was the right thing, the fallout kind of is not so good.People will still get sick, and since all the cat-nun-nurse ladies handled that, none of the humans are trained as healers. They won't know what to do. A cold - which STILL hasn't been cured by the year five gazillion- could wipe out the population. SO, I mean to fix that."**

**"What's that got to do with Sarah Jane?" Mickey asked. **

**"Nothing. Did I mention Sarah Jane? I have a lot of past companions - Susan, Ian, Barbara, Harry, Jo, K-9, Sarah Jane, Leela, Romana, Romana - "**

**"You mentioned 'er already," Mickey pointed out. A few more mistakes, and he might start thinking the Doctor was very human for someone who wasn't human. **

**"Yes, I know, Ricky," the Doctor said testily. "She regenerated, so there were two of her, each very different. She was much nicer in her second life. Tegan, Lethbridge-Stewart, Mel, Kamelion, Turlough, Peri, Evelyn, Charley, Grace, and Nyssa. That's who we're going to see, Nyssa of Traken." He chose not to mention Katerina or Adric, the two companions who had sacrificed their lives.**

**"I thought you said we were goin' to Earth?" Mickey frowned. **

**"Good, you paid attention. For once. My best enemy destroyed Traken when he was trying to take over the universe, again, so Nyssa can't be there any longer, now can she? I left her on a leper colony, Terminus, where she cured Lazar's disease.Nasty business that stuff. After she was done, she came to Earth and has been working at a university in the thirty-third century." He glanced at a chronometer. "Good. My self has already been here, so we won't meet me."**

**"What?" Mickey exclaimed before Rose could.**

**"After Number Five left her- where she wanted to be, I might add, I wouldn't just dump someone in a place like that unless they said that's where they wished to be! - my Fourth self met her older self before he met her as a girl on Traken- before it was anihilated,here," the Doctor explained as if such things were quite ordinary. **

**"Er..." Mickey shook his head. "Huh?"**

**"So, we could run into - the old you? One of your past selves?" Rose asked a little too hopefully. Somehow, she had managed to follow the chain of events, somewhat. **

**"Technically, yes, but unless the universe is in the worst sort of danger, it's not a good idea," the Doctor said gently. "You probably couldn't meet him while you're with me, unless such conditions existed. Even then, with the Time Lords gone, it's not certain such a thing is possible. They always brought the other mes together with myself before. Except for that one time, and that was a hallucination, probably."**

**"Oh. Right," Rose looked down. **

**"And, here we are," the Doctor announced. **

**The TARDIS door opened to reveal a rather ordinary looking campus. **

**"Another school?" Mickey looked dreadfully disappointed. He hadn't liked school when he was in it, and he really hadn't liked the last one they had been too. He suppressed a shudder at the thought of frozen rats.**

**"Yes, is that all right? Good," the Doctor snapped impatiently. "Let's find Nyssa!"**

**After a few inquiries, the trio entered a library. A middle-aged woman with long, curly, brown hair was studying a computer terminal intently. **

**The Doctor crossed the room to her and tapped her on the shoulder. "Hello, Nyssa."**

**She turned, looking at him in confusion. **

**"Should I have worn some celery in my lapel or a floppy hat and scarf?" he grinned. **

**"Doctor? You've changed, again?" she breathed. "You've gotten so much younger!" And she had not.**

**Sticking his hands in his pockets, the Doctor shrugged off her words. "Actually, I'm older, by five regenerations, since the oldest Doctor you saw. Six more than the last one you saw. Teeth and Curls HAS seen you again, hasn't he?"**

**"Yes, we've already been back to the thirteen hundreds," Nyssa smiled. Peering around him, she asked, "Your latest companions? I suppose it was too much to hope that Tegan and Turlough would be with you. Do you know if they are - well?"**

**"Last I heard, Turlough had begun ruling his home planet. His death sentence had been lifted, and he was needed. Tegan- er- we parted on bad terms, unfortunately," his grin turned to a scowl. "Daleks. No, they didn't kill her, just- they were too much for her." His face clouded, recalling the hurt his younger self had felt seeing how his lifestyle had horrified the former stewardess. "Never mind. I'm sure she's doing fine. You know, brave hearted Tegan. How else could she do? By the way, I should tell you, your father's body was exterminated. The Master was still using it when the Daleks executed him. Sorry." Shaking his head, he cleared the frown away. "So, tired of academia yet?"**

**"What? Why?" She glanced again at Rose and Mickey, standing behind the Doctor looking bored and restless. The Doctor never had been good at politeness. A part of her was still the young girl whose feelings had been hurt when he failed to notice her new dress and appreciate it once it had been pointed out. "And- my father was dead long before that, you know. As soon as the Master stole him."**

**"Well, you see, there's a world that needs someone - like you.I remember how you said you wanted to make Terminus a real hospital, which you did. Splendidly so. New Earth needs someone who can do that. It's a long, long ways away, years and years, but you are needed there. There entire hospital system was recently- busted for fraud." He winced. Really, there should have been a better way to handle it than turning over the whole place in one fell swoop. "Plus, there's a few - thousand people, maybe a few million - who sort of need to learn how to be - people instead of lab rats."**

**"Oh, really? And were you anywhere in the vicinity?"**

**"Sort of. Rose helped." He jerked a thumb back at the blonde. **

**Nyssa looked back at her work station, then at the Doctor again. Somewhere in his eyes, she thought she could see the shadow of a tall man in a strange costume wearing a manic smile and a second one, a younger, handsomer man who had more than once offered to lay down his lives for her and others. She only hesitated a moment, then nodded. "Yes. Yes, I'd like to come along." **

**The Doctor beamed. "Marvelous. Shall we go?"**

**Four people trouped out of library and towards an odd blue box. Nyssa felt younger than she had in years. **

**As they re-entered the TARDIS, Nyssa looked around at the mottled, greenish area. "You've been redecorating."**

**"Yes? Like it?" the Doctor asked. **

**  
"Well - ah- it's different.I was fond of the white, you know."**

**"I like it," Rose said loyally, receiving a smile from the Doctor as a reward.**

**"We'll be at New Earth soon, it's only about a - ten minute hop. Er- your old room is still here, somewhere. I'm sure the TARDIS would let you find it right off," the Doctor offered. "She always liked you. You left a few things, if you want them." Drat, Mickey was right. It was a nightmare having the present woman in your life and a past one meet. He hadn't noticed it quite as much with Sarah Jane, too much was going on, but things were moving slower now. Very uncomfortable.**

**"Oh, thank you," Nyssa said. "It would be nice to have a few familiar things."**

**When she had vanished into the corridors, the Doctor glared at Mickey. "Don't say it."**

**"Who? Me?"**

**Just as the TARDIS landed on New Earth for the second time in one of that world's days, Nyssa returned bearing a small duffle bag. "You still had my fancy dress costume, the one Ann gave me." Tears glinted in her eyes. **

**Looking decidedly uncomfortable, the Doctor shuffled his feet. "Well, the old girl is infinite, almost anyway. Never know when you'll need to go to a ball and dance the Charleston, after all. You know, those people aren't getting any healthier. Let's go."**

**They stepped onto the apple grass. "Think we could get some pie?" Mickey asked. "Some reason, I'm cravin' pie."**

**Rose and the Doctor exchanged an eye roll. "We'll have to go back to Old Earth for apple pie," the Doctor said. **

**"Oh. Well, maybe I don't want it, after all."**

**"Be useful, Mickey. Carry the lady's bag," the Doctor ordered, tossing the luggage to the younger man, then pointedly ignoring the muttering that followed. **

**  
Thanks to the fact that the Duke of Manhatten still felt that the Doctor was his good luck charm, they were able to gain an immediate audience at the conclusion of which, Nyssa was made Prime Minister of Health for New Earth. **

**Then, it was time to say good-bye again. Unlike his past selves, this Doctor had no qualms about embracing her. "Good luck, Nyssa," he whispered. Then, as they pulled apart, trying to lighten the bittersweetness of the moment, added, "Say, you might consider putting in a gift shop in the hospital. Really could use one."**

**Nyssa swallowed, then stepped over to Rose and hugged the girl who had taken over her role. "Take care of him. He can be a bit of trouble ... "**

**"Don't I know it!"**

**"But, he's worth it," Nyssa finished. **

**"Yeah. Know that, too," Rose smiled back. "Take care."**

**"So, where to now?" Mickey asked when no one moved after Nyssa's departure. **

**"Somewhere besides Earth, I think," the Doctor simply replied, taking Rose's hand so they could head home.**


End file.
